In the first forty years, nine tournaments were held with the Coupe Jules Rimet at stake;
Brazil won it for the third time in 1970 and thus outright, but it was later stolen there
and never found again.
All titles were won by teams from 2 confederations: South America won the cup 5 times by
2 different teams (Brazil 3, Uruguay 2), Europe 4 times by 3 different teams (Italy 2,
Germany and England both 1).
Also all losing finalists came from those two confederations (where we include the final
match between Brazil and Uruguay in 1950, at the end of which one of the two teams was
to lift the cup, as a final): European teams combined for 11 final appearances (Italy 3,
Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia each 2, England and Sweden both 1), South American
teams for 7 (Brazil 4, Uruguay 2, Argentina 1).
The other confederations combined for one solitary semi-final appearance (United States
in 1930), as opposed to 24 for Europe (by 12 different countries, of which 7 made multiple
appearances at this stage: Germany 5, Italy and Sweden 3, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary
and Yugoslavia each 2) and 11 for South America (by 4 different countries, of which 2 made
multiple appearances: Brazil 5, Uruguay 4).
Teams ranked on points (based on 2/win), then fewer matches played, then goal difference.
Rk Country Part Pd W D L GF-GA Pts Win RU SF QF
1.Brazil 9 38 26 5 7 103-49 57 3 1 1 1
2.(West) Germany [*1] 7 34 21 5 8 87-59 47 1 1 3 1
3.Italy 7 26 15 4 7 48-30 34 2 1
4.Uruguay 6 26 14 4 8 56-33 32 2 2 1
5.Hungary 6 23 13 2 8 70-34 28 2 3
6.England 6 24 10 6 8 34-28 26 1 3
7.Soviet Union [-] 4 19 10 3 6 30-21 23 1 3
8.Yugoslavia [-] 5 19 9 3 7 33-27 21 2 2
9.Sweden 5 19 9 3 7 40-37 21 1 2 1
10.Czechoslovakia [-] 6 22 8 3 11 32-36 19 2 1
11.Argentina 5 16 8 2 6 31-27 18 1 1
12.Chile 4 15 7 1 7 22-22 15 1
13.France 6 17 7 1 9 38-33 15 1 1
14.Spain 4 15 6 2 7 20-23 14 1 1
15.Austria 3 12 6 1 5 26-26 13 2
16.Switzerland 6 18 5 2 11 28-44 12 3
17.Portugal 1 6 5 0 1 17- 8 10 1
18.Mexico 7 21 3 4 14 19-50 10 1
19.Paraguay 3 7 2 2 3 12-19 6
20.United States 3 7 3 0 4 12-21 6 1
21.Wales 1 5 1 3 1 4- 4 5 1
22.Northern Ireland 1 5 2 1 2 6-10 5 1
23.Romania 4 8 2 1 5 12-17 5
24.Peru 2 6 2 0 4 10-13 4 1
25.Cuba 1 3 1 1 1 5-12 3 1
26.North Korea 1 4 1 1 2 5- 9 3 1
27.Belgium 5 9 1 1 7 12-25 3
28.Turkey 1 3 1 0 2 10-11 2
29.Israel 1 3 0 2 1 1- 3 2
30.Bulgaria 3 9 0 2 7 7-24 2
31.Morocco 1 3 0 1 2 2- 6 1
32.Colombia 1 3 0 1 2 5-11 1
33.Scotland 2 5 0 1 4 4-14 1
34.Poland 1 1 0 0 1 5- 6 0
35.Norway 1 1 0 0 1 1- 2 0
36.Egypt 1 1 0 0 1 2- 4 0
37.Dutch East Indies [-] 1 1 0 0 1 0- 6 0
38.Netherlands 2 2 0 0 2 2- 6 0
39.South Korea 1 2 0 0 2 0-16 0
40.El Salvador 1 3 0 0 3 0- 9 0
41.Bolivia 2 3 0 0 3 0-16 0
totals 137 464 198 68 198 851-851 464 9 9 18 28
NB: the tournaments of 1930 and 1950 had 13 (instead of 16) participants; that of 1938
had 15 entrants (after the withdrawal of Austria following the Anschluß);
the tournaments of 1930 and 1950 had no quarter-final stage;
the bottom-2 finishers in the 4-team final group stage 1950 are credited with a
semi-final appearance.
[*1] the German record combines those of Germany (1934-1938) and West Germany (1954-1970):
West Germany 5 28 18 4 6 73-46 40 1 1 2 1
Germany 2 6 3 1 2 14-13 7 1
note that (West) Germany reached at least the quarter-final stage at each entry apart
from 1938 (when their team included a number of formerly Austrian players); in 1930
Germany did not enter, in 1950 they were banned due to World War II.
[-] marks countries no longer in existence (Dutch East Indies now known as Indonesia but
the current federation does not recognise the matches from the colonial era).
Breakdown by confederations 1930-1970
Confederation Part (#C) Pd W D L GF- GA Pts Win RU SF QF
UEFA 87 (23) 302 131 44 127 566-525 306 4 7 13 21
CONMEBOL 32 ( 8) 114 59 15 40 239-190 133 5 2 4 4
CONCACAF 12 ( 4) 34 7 5 22 36- 92 19 1 2
AFC 4 ( 4) 10 1 3 6 6- 34 5 1
CAF 2 ( 2) 4 0 1 3 4- 10 1
totals 137 (41) 464 198 68 198 851-851 464 9 9 18 28
NB: #C indicates number of different countries from confederation;
Israel's participation in 1970 credited to AFC (of which they were members at the time).
Trivia notes 1930-1970
Hungary were the most prolific team in this period, averaging more than 3 goals per match;
only Brazil and Germany scored more goals in total (but played many more matches); given
the playing records, the most apparent injustice of this era is that Hungary never won
the Coupe Jules Rimet while England did (when hosting the tournament).
Apart from the top-3 (Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina) no American team managed to achieve
a positive record (Chile averaged exactly fifty percent, mostly thanks to hosting the
final tournament in 1962).
Italy entered the final tournament on seven occasions; in three they reached the final
(winning the first two and losing the last) but they failed to qualify from the group
stage in their other four appearances. They share the record of winning successive
titles with Brazil (Italy did so 1934 and 1938, Brazil 1958 and 1962); no other
countries reached successive finals during the Coupe Jules Rimet era. When the two
met in the 1970 final, it was a direct playoff for the right to keep the trophy.
Sweden made three semi-final appearances in this period (once, as hosts 1958, qualifying
for the final), as many as England, France and Spain combined.
The two Low Countries teams (Belgium and the Netherlands) together lost 9 of the 11 matches
they played, conceding almost 3 goals per match in the process. Bulgaria failed to win
any of their 9 matches.
In the following forty years, eleven tournaments were played with the FIFA World Cup at
stake; in 2014 Germany became the first team to win it for the third time, but the trophy
remains in possession of FIFA and is not to be won outright by any country.
All titles were won by teams from 2 confederations: Europe won the cup 7 times by
4 different teams (Germany 3, Italy 2, France and Spain both 1), South America 4 times
by 2 different teams (Argentina and Brazil both 2).
Also all losing finalists came from those two confederations: European teams combined
for 15 final appearances (Germany 6, Italy and the Netherlands both 3, France 2, Spain 1),
South American teams for 7 (Argentina 4, Brazil 3).
The other confederations combined for one solitary semi-final appearance (semi-hosts
South Korea in 2002), as opposed to 32 for Europe (by 13 different countries, of which
5 made multiple appearances at this stage: Germany 8, Italy and the Netherlands both 5,
France 4, Poland 2) and 11 for South America (by 3 different countries, of which 2 made
multiple appearances: Brazil 6, Argentina 4).
Teams ranked on points (based on 2/win), then fewer matches played, then goal difference.
Rk Country Part Pd W D L GF-GA Pts (Pt3/APt) Win RU SF QF
1.(West) Germany [*1] 11 72 45 15 12 137-62 105 (150/132) 3 3 2 3
2.Brazil 11 66 44 12 10 118-53 100 (144/126) 2 1 3 3
3.Argentina 11 61 34 12 15 100-57 80 (114/ 98) 2 2 4
4.Italy 11 57 30 17 10 80-47 77 (107/ 91) 2 1 2 1
5.Netherlands 8 48 27 12 9 84-42 66 ( 93/ 85) 3 2 1
6.Spain 10 44 23 10 11 72-43 56 ( 79/ 72) 1 3
7.France 8 42 21 11 10 68-38 53 ( 74/ 66) 1 1 2 1
8.England 8 38 16 14 8 45-28 46 ( 62/ 54) 1 3
9.Poland 6 30 15 5 10 39-34 35 ( 50/ 37) 2 1
10.Belgium 7 32 13 8 11 40-41 34 ( 47/ 41) 1 1
11.Mexico 8 32 11 10 11 38-42 32 ( 43/ 40) 1
12.Sweden 6 27 7 10 10 34-32 24 ( 31/ 29) 1 1
13.Portugal 5 20 8 4 8 26-21 20 ( 28/ 27) 1
14.Uruguay 6 25 6 8 11 24-38 20 ( 26/ 25) 1
15.South Korea 8 29 5 9 15 31-51 19 ( 24/ 24) 1
16.Denmark 4 16 8 2 6 27-24 18 ( 26/ 23) 1
17.Paraguay 5 20 5 8 7 18-19 18 ( 23/ 22) 1
18.Romania 3 13 6 4 3 18-15 16 ( 22/ 21) 1
19.Switzerland 4 15 6 4 5 17-15 16 ( 22/ 22)
20.Croatia 4 16 7 2 7 21-17 16 ( 23/ 23) 1
21.United States 7 26 5 6 15 25-41 16 ( 21/ 21) 1
22.Colombia 4 15 7 1 7 21-16 15 ( 22/ 21) 1
23.Austria 4 17 6 3 8 17-21 15 ( 21/ 15) 1
24.Cameroon 7 23 4 7 12 18-43 15 ( 19/ 16) 1
25.Yugoslavia [*2] [-] 3 14 5 4 5 22-15 14 ( 19/ 14) 2
26.Costa Rica 4 15 5 4 6 17-23 14 ( 19/ 17) 1
27.Scotland 6 18 4 6 8 21-27 14 ( 18/ 14)
28.Chile 5 18 4 6 8 18-27 14 ( 18/ 18)
29.Soviet Union [*3] [-] 3 12 5 3 4 23-13 13 ( 18/ 13)
30.Nigeria 5 18 5 3 10 20-26 13 ( 18/ 18)
31.Ireland 3 13 2 8 3 10-10 12 ( 14/ 14) 1
32.Japan 5 17 4 4 9 14-22 12 ( 16/ 16)
33.Bulgaria 4 17 3 6 8 15-29 12 ( 15/ 15) 1
34.Ghana 3 12 4 3 5 13-16 11 ( 15/ 15) 1
35.Turkey 1 7 4 1 2 10- 6 9 ( 13/ 13) 1
36.Ecuador 3 10 4 1 5 10-11 9 ( 13/ 13)
37.Algeria 4 13 3 3 7 13-19 9 ( 12/ 10)
38.Czechoslovakia [*4] [-] 2 8 3 2 3 12- 9 8 ( 11/ 8) 1
39.South Africa 3 9 2 4 3 11-16 8 ( 10/ 10)
40.Norway 2 7 2 3 2 6- 6 7 ( 9/ 9)
41.Ivory Coast 3 9 3 1 5 13-14 7 ( 10/ 10)
42.Peru 2 9 2 3 4 9-18 7 ( 9/ 7) 1
43.Morocco 3 10 2 3 5 10-12 7 ( 9/ 8)
44.Serbia(-Montenegro) [*2] 3 10 3 1 6 9-17 7 ( 10/ 10)
45.Australia 4 13 2 3 8 11-26 7 ( 9/ 9)
46.Senegal 1 5 2 2 1 7- 6 6 ( 8/ 8) 1
47.East Germany [-] 1 6 2 2 2 5- 5 6 ( 8/ 6) 1
48.Northern Ireland 2 8 1 4 3 7-13 6 ( 7/ 6)
49.Russia [*3] 3 9 2 2 5 13-13 6 ( 8/ 8)
50.Greece 3 10 2 2 6 5-20 6 ( 8/ 8)
51.Tunisia 4 12 1 4 7 8-17 6 ( 7/ 6)
52.Saudi Arabia 4 13 2 2 9 9-32 6 ( 8/ 8)
53.Ukraine 1 5 2 1 2 5- 7 5 ( 7/ 7) 1
54.Hungary 3 9 2 1 6 17-23 5 ( 7/ 5)
55.Iran 4 12 1 3 8 7-22 5 ( 6/ 6)
56.Slovakia 1 4 1 1 2 5- 7 3 ( 4/ 4)
57.Slovenia 2 6 1 1 4 5-10 3 ( 4/ 4)
58.New Zealand 2 6 0 3 3 4-14 3 ( 3/ 3)
59.Honduras 3 9 0 3 6 3-14 3 ( 3/ 3)
60.Bosnia-Herzegovina 1 3 1 0 2 4- 4 2 ( 3/ 3)
61.Czech Republic [*4] 1 3 1 0 2 3- 4 2 ( 3/ 3)
62.Angola 1 3 0 2 1 1- 2 2 ( 2/ 2)
63.Egypt 1 3 0 2 1 1- 2 2 ( 2/ 2)
64.Jamaica 1 3 1 0 2 3- 9 2 ( 3/ 3)
65.Bolivia 1 3 0 1 2 1- 4 1 ( 1/ 1)
66.Kuwait 1 3 0 1 2 2- 6 1 ( 1/ 1)
67.Trinidad and Tobago 1 3 0 1 2 0- 4 1 ( 1/ 1)
68.Iraq 1 3 0 0 3 1- 4 0 ( 0/ 0)
69.Togo 1 3 0 0 3 1- 6 0 ( 0/ 0)
70.Canada 1 3 0 0 3 0- 5 0 ( 0/ 0)
71.United Arab Emirates 1 3 0 0 3 2-11 0 ( 0/ 0)
72.China 1 3 0 0 3 0- 9 0 ( 0/ 0)
73.North Korea 1 3 0 0 3 1-12 0 ( 0/ 0)
74.El Salvador 1 3 0 0 3 1-13 0 ( 0/ 0)
75.Haiti 1 3 0 0 3 2-14 0 ( 0/ 0)
76.Zaire [!] 1 3 0 0 3 0-14 0 ( 0/ 0)
288 1208 452 452 1208 11 11 22 40
304 1528-1528 (1660/1490)
NB: Pt3 indicates points total adjusted to 3 points/win;
APt indicates actual points total (2 points/win until 1990; 3 points/win since 1994).
NB: the 2 tournaments of 1974 and 1978 had 16 entrants; the 4 tournaments from 1982 to 1994
had 24 entrants; the 5 tournaments since 1998 had 32 entrants;
the tournament of 1982 had no quarter-final stage;
the group runners-up of the quarter-final stage in 1974 and 1978 (which played off for
third place) are credited with a semi-final appearance.
[*1] the German record combines those of West Germany (1974-1990) and Germany (1994-2014):
Germany 6 38 27 5 6 79-31 59 ( 86/ 86) 1 1 2 2
West Germany 5 34 18 10 6 58-31 46 ( 64/ 46) 2 2 1
note that (West) Germany reached at least the quarter-final stage in every tournament
in this 40-year period.
[*2] Yugoslavia's total does not include the 1998 tournament, when Serbia and Montenegro
still used the former federal name; the totals for that tournament are included under
Serbia(-Montenegro); FIFA considers the football federation of Serbia as the rightful
successor of that of Yugoslavia; the combined record of the two entities is:
Yugoslavia/Serbia 6 24 8 5 11 31-32 21 (29/ 24) 2
we do not follow that convention here as in particular Croatian players made significant
contributions to the performances of the Yugoslavia national team;
note that the Serbia(-Montenegro) total above combines the records of "Yugoslavia" (1998),
Serbia and Montenegro (2006) and Serbia (2010).
[*3] FIFA considers the football federation of Russia as the rightful successor of that
of the Soviet Union; the combined record of the two entities is:
Soviet Union/Russia 6 21 7 5 9 36-26 19 ( 26/ 21)
we do not follow that convention here as in particular Ukrainian players made significant
contributions to the performances of the Soviet Union national team.
[*4] FIFA considers the football federation of the Czech Republic as the rightful successor
of that of Czechoslovakia; the combined record of the two entities is:
Czech(oslovak)ia 3 11 4 2 5 15-13 10 ( 14/ 11) 1
we do not follow that convention here as Slovak players made significant contributions
to the performances of the Czechoslovakia national team.
[-] marks countries no longer in existence.
[!] Zaire is now known as Congo DR (Congo-Kinshasa).
Breakdown by confederations 1974-2014
Confederation Part (#C) Pd W D L GF- GA Pts (Pt3/APt) Win RU SF QF
UEFA 144 (34) 656 284 169 203 922-718 737 (1021/902) 7 8 17 24
CONMEBOL 48 ( 9) 227 106 62 69 319-243 264 ( 370/331) 4 3 4 10
CAF 37 (13) 123 26 34 63 116-193 86 ( 112/105) 3
CONCACAF 27 ( 9) 97 22 24 51 89-165 68 ( 90/ 85) 3
AFC 28 (10) 92 13 20 59 73-184 46 ( 59/ 59) 1
OFC 4 ( 2) 13 1 5 7 9- 25 7 ( 8/ 8)
totals 288 (77) 1208 452 314 452 1208 (1670/1490) 11 11 22 40
1528-1528
NB: #C indicates number of different countries from confederation;
Australia's participations in 1974 and 2006 credited to OFC, those since 2010 to AFC
(which is why the number of different countries adds to 77 instead of 76).
Trivia notes 1974-2014
Among the regular entrants, the three most prolific teams were Germany (1.90 goals/match),
Brazil (1.79) and the Netherlands (1.75); given the playing records, the most apparent
injustice of this era is that the Netherlands never won the FIFA World Cup while France
did (when hosting the tournament).
Germany reached four successive semi-finals (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014); no other country
ever achieved this; West Germany (1982-1990) and Brazil (1994-2002) were the only teams
to reach three successive finals; the only other teams to reach successive finals during
this period were the Netherlands (losing to the tournament hosts in both 1974 and 1978)
and Argentina (playing West Germany in both 1986 and 1990).
Apart from the top-2 (Brazil and Argentina) no American team managed to achieve a positive
record (Colombia and Mexico won as many matches as they lost; Uruguay lost almost twice
as many as they won).
Regular entrants Cameroon, South Korea and the United States all lost three times as many
matches as they won in spite of all three once reaching the quarter-final stage; Honduras
failed to win any of their 9 matches.
After twenty tournaments with the World Championship at stake, all titles were won by
teams from 2 confederations only: Europe claimed it on 11 occasions by 5 different teams
(Germany and Italy both 4, England, France and Spain each 1), and South America 9 times
by 3 different teams (Brazil 5, Argentina and Uruguay both 2).
Also all losing finalists came from those two confederations (where we include the final
match between Brazil and Uruguay in 1950, at the end of which one of the two teams was to
lift the cup, as a final): European teams combined for 26 final appearances (Germany 8,
Italy 6, the Netherlands 3, Czechoslovakia, France and Hungary all 2, England, Spain
and Sweden each 1), South American teams for 14 (Brazil 7, Argentina 5, Uruguay 2).
Two other confederations managed a solitary semi-final appearance (the United States for
North and Central America in 1930 and semi-hosts South Korea for Asia in 2002), compared
to 56 for Europe (by 18 different countries, of which 13 made multiple appearances at
this stage: Germany 13, Italy 8, France and the Netherlands both 5, Sweden 4, Austria,
Czechoslovakia, England, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Yugoslavia all 2) and 22
for South America (by 4 different countries, of which 3 made multiple appearances:
Brazil 11, Argentina and Uruguay both 5).
Teams ranked on points (based on 2/win), then fewer matches played, then goal difference.
Rk Country Part Pd W D L GF-GA Pts Pt3 APt Win RU SF QF
1.Brazil 20 104 70 17 17 221-102 157 227 183 5 2 4 4
2.(West) Germany [*1] 18 106 66 20 20 224-121 152 218 179 4 4 5 4
3.Italy 18 83 45 21 17 128- 77 111 156 125 4 2 2 1
4.Argentina 16 77 42 14 21 131- 84 98 140 116 2 3 5
5.England 14 62 26 20 16 79- 56 72 98 80 1 1 6
6.Spain 14 59 29 12 18 92- 66 70 99 86 1 1 4
7.France 14 59 28 12 19 106- 71 68 96 81 1 1 3 2
8.Netherlands 10 50 27 12 11 86- 48 66 93 85 3 2 1
9.Uruguay 12 51 20 12 19 80- 71 52 72 57 2 3 1
10.Sweden 11 46 16 13 17 74- 69 45 61 50 1 3 2
11.Mexico 15 53 14 14 25 57- 92 42 56 50 2
12.Belgium 12 41 14 9 18 52- 66 37 51 44 1 1
13.Soviet Union [*3] [-] 7 31 15 6 10 53- 34 36 51 36 1 3
14.Poland 7 31 15 5 11 44- 40 35 50 37 2 1
15.Yugoslavia [*2] [-] 8 33 14 7 12 55- 42 35 49 35 2 4
16.Hungary 9 32 15 3 14 87- 57 33 48 33 2 3
17.Portugal 6 26 13 4 9 43- 29 30 43 37 2
18.Chile 9 33 11 7 15 40- 49 29 40 33 1
19.Austria 7 29 12 4 13 43- 47 28 40 28 2 1
20.Switzerland 10 33 11 6 16 45- 59 28 39 34 3
21.Czechoslovakia [*4] [-] 8 30 11 5 14 44- 45 27 38 27 2 2
22.Paraguay 8 27 7 10 10 30- 38 24 31 28 1
23.United States 10 33 8 6 19 37- 62 22 30 27 1 1
24.Romania 7 21 8 5 8 30- 32 21 29 26 1
25.South Korea 9 31 5 9 17 31- 67 19 24 24 1
26.Denmark 4 16 8 2 6 27- 24 18 26 23 1
27.Croatia 4 16 7 2 7 21- 17 16 23 23 1
28.Colombia 5 18 7 2 9 26- 27 16 23 22 1
29.Scotland 8 23 4 7 12 25- 41 15 19 15
30.Cameroon 7 23 4 7 12 18- 43 15 19 16 1
31.Costa Rica 4 15 5 4 6 17- 23 14 19 17 1
32.Bulgaria 7 26 3 8 15 22- 53 14 17 17 1
33.Nigeria 5 18 5 3 10 20- 26 13 18 18
34.Ireland 3 13 2 8 3 10- 10 12 14 14 1
35.Japan 5 17 4 4 9 14- 22 12 16 16
36.Turkey 2 10 5 1 4 20- 17 11 16 15 1
37.Ghana 3 12 4 3 5 13- 16 11 15 15 1
38.Northern Ireland 3 13 3 5 5 13- 23 11 14 13 1
39.Peru 4 15 4 3 8 19- 31 11 15 11 2
40.Ecuador 3 10 4 1 5 10- 11 9 13 13
41.Algeria 4 13 3 3 7 13- 19 9 12 10
42.South Africa 3 9 2 4 3 11- 16 8 10 10
43.Morocco 4 13 2 4 7 12- 18 8 10 9
44.Norway 3 8 2 3 3 7- 8 7 9 9
45.Ivory Coast 3 9 3 1 5 13- 14 7 10 10
46.Serbia(-Montenegro) [*2] 3 10 3 1 6 9- 17 7 10 10
47.Australia 4 13 2 3 8 11- 26 7 9 9
48.Senegal 1 5 2 2 1 7- 6 6 8 8 1
49.East Germany [-] 1 6 2 2 2 5- 5 6 8 6 1
50.Russia [*3] 3 9 2 2 5 13- 13 6 8 8
51.Greece 3 10 2 2 6 5- 20 6 8 8
52.Tunisia 4 12 1 4 7 8- 17 6 7 6
53.Saudi Arabia 4 13 2 2 9 9- 32 6 8 8
54.Wales 1 5 1 3 1 4- 4 5 6 5 1
55.Ukraine 1 5 2 1 2 5- 7 5 7 7 1
56.Iran 4 12 1 3 8 7- 22 5 6 6
57.Cuba 1 3 1 1 1 5- 12 3 4 3 1
58.Slovakia 1 4 1 1 2 5- 7 3 4 4
59.Slovenia 2 6 1 1 4 5- 10 3 4 4
60.New Zealand 2 6 0 3 3 4- 14 3 3 3
61.North Korea 2 7 1 1 5 6- 21 3 4 3 1
62.Honduras 3 9 0 3 6 3- 14 3 3 3
63.Bosnia-Herzegovina 1 3 1 0 2 4- 4 2 3 3
64.Czech Republic [*4] 1 3 1 0 2 3- 4 2 3 3
65.Angola 1 3 0 2 1 1- 2 2 2 2
66.Israel 1 3 0 2 1 1- 3 2 2 2
67.Jamaica 1 3 1 0 2 3- 9 2 3 3
68.Egypt 2 4 0 2 2 3- 6 2 2 2
69.Kuwait 1 3 0 1 2 2- 6 1 1 1
70.Trinidad and Tobago 1 3 0 1 2 0- 4 1 1 1
71.Bolivia 3 6 0 1 5 1- 20 1 1 1
72.Dutch East Indies [-] 1 1 0 0 1 0- 6 0 0 0
73.Iraq 1 3 0 0 3 1- 4 0 0 0
74.Togo 1 3 0 0 3 1- 6 0 0 0
75.Canada 1 3 0 0 3 0- 5 0 0 0
76.United Arab Emirates 1 3 0 0 3 2- 11 0 0 0
77.China 1 3 0 0 3 0- 9 0 0 0
78.Haiti 1 3 0 0 3 2- 14 0 0 0
79.Zaire [!] 1 3 0 0 3 0- 14 0 0 0
80.El Salvador 2 6 0 0 6 1- 22 0 0 0
425 1672 650 650 1672 2322 1956 20 20 40 68
372 2379-2379
NB: Pt3 indicates points total adjusted to 3 points/win;
APt indicates actual points total (2 points/win until 1990; 3 points/win since 1994).
NB: the tournaments of 1930 and 1950 had 13 (instead of 16) participants; that of 1938
had 15 entrants (after the withdrawal of Austria following the Anschluß);
the other tournaments from 1934 to 1978 had 16 entrants; the tournaments from 1982
to 1994 had 24 entrants; the tournaments since 1998 had 32 entrants;
the tournaments of 1930, 1950 and 1982 had no quarter-final stage;
the bottom-2 finishers in the 4-team final group stage 1950 are credited with a
semi-final appearance;
the group runners-up of the quarter-final stage in 1974 and 1978 (which played off for
third place) are credited with a semi-final appearance.
[*1] the German record combines those of Germany (1934-1938, 1994-2014) and West Germany (1954-1990):
West Germany 10 62 36 14 12 131- 77 86 122 86 3 3 2 2
Germany 8 44 30 6 8 93- 44 66 96 93 1 1 3 2
note that (West) Germany reached at least the quarter-final stage at each entry apart
from 1938 (when their team included a number of formerly Austrian players); in 1930
Germany did not enter, in 1950 they were banned due to World War II; this impressive
record ended in 2018 when they were eliminated in the first group stage.
[*2] Yugoslavia's total does not include the 1998 tournament, when Serbia and Montenegro
still used the former federal name; the totals for that tournament are included under
Serbia(-Montenegro); FIFA considers the football federation of Serbia as the rightful
successor of that of Yugoslavia; the combined record of the two entities is:
Yugoslavia/Serbia 11 43 17 8 18 64- 59 42 59 45 2 4
we do not follow that convention here as in particular Croatian players made significant
contributions to the performances of the Yugoslavia national team;
note that the Serbia(-Montenegro) total above combines the records of "Yugoslavia" (1998),
Serbia and Montenegro (2006) and Serbia (2010).
[*3] FIFA considers the football federation of Russia as the rightful successor of that
of the Soviet Union; the combined record of the two entities is:
Soviet Union/Russia 10 40 17 8 15 66- 47 42 59 44 1 3
we do not follow that convention here as in particular Ukrainian players made significant
contributions to the performances of the Soviet Union national team.
[*4] FIFA considers the football federation of the Czech Republic as the rightful successor
of that of Czechoslovakia; the combined record of the two entities is:
Czech(oslovak)ia 9 33 12 5 16 47- 49 29 41 30 2 2
we do not follow that convention here as Slovak players made significant contributions
to the performances of the Czechoslovakia national team.
[-] marks countries no longer in existence (Dutch East Indies now known as Indonesia but
the current federation does not recognise the matches from the colonial era).
[!] Zaire is now known as Congo DR (Congo-Kinshasa).
Trivia notes 1930-2014
The top-2 of the ranking, Brazil and Germany, never failed to qualify for the final
tournament (Germany did not enter in 1930 and were banned in 1950). They both hosted
the final tournament twice but only one of their nine combined wins was achieved at
home (West Germany 1974); the two lead all other countries in final, semi-final and
quarter-final appearances. They only met twice in the history of the tournament,
Brazil winning the 2002 final 2-0 but losing 1-7 in a 2014 semi-final (a record loss
by any team in a World Cup semi-final). Brazil are the only non-European country to
have won the tournament in Europe (Sweden 1958); Germany are the only non-American
country to have won the tournament in America (Brazil 2014).
Behind the top-2, Italy and Argentina may be considered the all-time semi-finalists,
combining for 11 final appearances (Italy 6, twice against Brazil, losing both while
winning their other four finals, all against European opposition; and Argentina 5,
three times against Germany, winning once and losing twice). Apart from Germany vs
Argentina and Brazil vs Italy, no other final pairing occurred more than once.
Three countries won four or more World Cup titles; all three had to wait exactly 24
(or 4!=4x3x2x1) years between their third and fourth titles: Brazil from 1970 to
1994, Italy from 1982 to 2006 and (West) Germany from 1990 to 2014.
Following the top-4 are four European teams (the 3 one-time winners England, France
and Spain, and the one 3-time finalists the Netherlands) with nearly identical point
totals; they may be considered the all-time quarter-finalists; England in fact hold
a record with their 6 quarter-final eliminations (not including their group stage
eliminations in 1950 and 1982 which may be considered last 8 appearances as well);
the Three Lions won one match less at final tournaments than the Netherlands in
spite of playing at four more tournaments and in twelve more matches (they also
scored fewer goals than Oranje).
Uruguay went undefeated in the first two tournaments (1930 and 1950) they entered and
won but have meanwhile declined to the extent that their overall record barely beats
fifty percent. A similar observation may be made for Hungary, whose two final and
three further quarter-final appearances all date back to the first eight tournaments.
Sweden are one of the eleven countries (the top-12 in the all-time ranking apart from
the Netherlands) to have played in more than half of the final tournaments, reaching
the quarter-finals in more than half of their entries and the semi-finals four times,
as often as England and Spain combined. Like the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, they
had a positive record in the Coupe Jules Rimet era, clearly outperforming France and
Spain, but have a negative record since (which also applies to the two disintegrated
Eastern European states if one, like FIFA, adds the records of the main successor
countries Russia and Serbia).
Mexico entered more final tournaments than any other country outside the top-4 but
have only two quarter-final appearances (both as hosts) to show for their efforts;
they lost two thirds of their matches in the Coupe Jules Rimet era but have a fifty
percent record since the FIFA World Cup is at stake. A similar observation may be
made for Belgium, whose best showing dates back to the 1986 tournament in Mexico,
where they reached the semi-finals for the only time in their history (until 2018).
Poland, Portugal, Austria and Czechoslovakia all finished among the last four on two
occasions. Austria did so during the Coupe Jules Rimet era, twice losing semi-finals
to the eventual winners, both neighbours (hosts Italy 1934 and West Germany 1954),
Poland did so during the FIFA World Cup era, also twice losing out to the eventual
winners (curiously enough, also to West Germany, the 1974 hosts, and to Italy 1982),
and Portugal did so once during the Coupe Jules Rimet era (losing to hosts England
in 1966) and once playing for the FIFA World Cup (losing to France in 2006).
Czechoslovakia won both semi-finals they played, both by 3-1 (against Germany 1934
and Yugoslavia 1962) but went on to lose both finals (to Italy 1934 and Brazil 1962).
In spite of that performance, they lost roughly half their matches in both the Coupe
Jules Rimet and FIFA World Cup eras (irrespective of whether or not one follows FIFA
in adding the one entry by the Czech Republic) and did not manage a positive record
in either.
Among the countries to have played at least 20 matches at final tournaments, all of
the United States, South Korea, Scotland, Cameroon and Bulgaria lost more than half
their matches, with all five conceding around 2 goals per match. In spite of this,
three of them (United States, South Korea and Bulgaria) once played a semi-final.
Cuba, Wales and North Korea all reached one quarter-final in spite of winning only one
World Cup match in their entire history (against, respectively, Romania, Hungary
and Italy).
In contrast, Scotland entered the final tournament on eight occasions but failed to
qualify for the quarter-final stage each and every time. In this failure statistic
they are followed by Japan and Nigeria, who both entered five times without ever
reaching the last eight. Six more countries had four such unsuccessful showings:
Algeria, Australia, Iran, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. Unsurprisingly, all
nine countries lost more than half of their matches.
Ireland and Northern Ireland both reached the final tournament on three occasions,
both played exactly 13 matches and both once reached the quarter-finals; Ireland
are the only country to have entered the final tournament more than once and drawn
more than half of their matches.
Both North Korea and South Korea qualified for their only ever quarter-final thanks
to a win over Italy. North Korea then lost their 1966 quarter-final to Portugal
after taking a 3-0 lead, while South Korea (who had beaten Portugal in the group
stage) beat Spain on penalties in their 2002 quarter-final at home before losing
to Germany.
El Salvador and Honduras, who went to war following a qualifying match for the 1970
final tournament in Mexico, together played 15 matches at final tournaments, drawing
3 (all by Honduras) and losing 12 (both six), while (together) conceding 9 goals for
every single one they scored.
Five countries hosted the tournament twice, but none managed to win the tournament
more than once at home: Mexico (hosted 1970 and 1986, playing Belgium both times)
and Brazil (hosted 1950 and 2014, playing Mexico both times) failed to win either
tournament; (West) Germany (hosted 1974 and 2006, playing Poland and Sweden at
both events) and Italy (hosted 1934 and 1990, playing Austria, Czechoslovakia and
the United States at both events) won the first time they hosted but were eliminated
in the semi-finals on the second occasion, with West Germany winning in Italy 1990
and Italy in Germany 2006; while France (hosted 1938 and 1998, playing Italy at both
tournaments) won at home at their second attempt only. Turkey played (and defeated)
both host nations at the 2002 tournament in Japan and South Korea.
Among the one-time hosts, Switzerland were (in footballing terms) the weakest ever
European nation to welcome the footballing élite (in 1954) and Chile the weakest
South American one (in 1962); both had their best ever World Cup run at home: Chile
reached the semi-finals while not reaching the quarter-finals in any other tournament,
while Switzerland reached the quarter-finals for the third and last time in their
history, having previously done so in neighbouring countries with which they shared
an official language (in Italy in 1934 and in France in 1938, when they became the
first and until 2018 only country to eliminate Germany prior to the quarter-final
stage); they failed to repeat that performance in Germany 2006, in spite of becoming
the first and so far only country to finish a World Cup tournament without conceding
a single goal. After twenty tournaments, both Chile and Switzerland had entered about
half of them, each playing 33 matches, winning exactly one third and losing almost half.
The start of the third period of two score years of World Cup tournaments was not very
auspicious. Before the vote to assign the hosts of the 2014 and 2018 tournaments, in
December 2010, two of the twenty-four members of the FIFA Executive Committee had their
voting rights suspended following allegations of accepting money in exchange for votes;
of the remaining twenty-two, who selected Russia and, preposterously, Qatar, half were
later fined, suspended, banned for life or prosecuted for corruption (the "or" is the
logical one: not necessarily exclusive), leaving only eleven members to have, so far,
escaped facing consequences.
The first two titles were won by teams from the usual 2 confederations: one from both
Europe (France) and South America (Argentina).
Also both losing finalists came from those two confederations: European teams combined
for 3 final appearances (France 2, Croatia 1), South American teams for 1 (Argentina).
The other confederations combined for one semi-final appearance (Morocco in 2022) as
opposed to 6 for Europe (by 4 different countries, of which 2 made two appearances
at this stage: France and Croatia) and 1 for South America (Argentina).
Teams ranked on points (based on 3/win), then fewer matches played, then goal difference.
Rk Country Part Pd W D L GF-GA Pts Win RU SF QF
1.France 2 14 11 2 1 30-14 35 1 1
2.Croatia 2 14 6 6 2 22-16 24 1 1
3.Belgium 2 10 7 1 2 17- 8 22 1
4.Brazil 2 10 6 2 2 16- 6 20 2
5.England 2 12 6 2 4 25-12 20 1 1
6.Argentina 2 11 5 3 3 21-17 18 1
7.Uruguay 2 8 5 1 2 9- 5 16 1
8.Portugal 2 9 4 2 3 18-12 14 1
9.Morocco 2 10 3 3 4 8- 9 12 1
10.Netherlands 1 5 3 2 0 10- 4 11 1
11.Spain 2 8 2 5 1 16- 9 11
12.Japan 2 8 3 2 3 11-11 11
13.Switzerland 2 8 3 2 3 10-14 11
14.Senegal 2 7 3 1 3 9-11 10
15.Mexico 2 7 3 1 3 5- 9 10
16.Sweden 1 5 3 0 2 6- 4 9 1
17.Russia 1 5 2 2 1 11- 7 8 1
18.Colombia 1 4 2 1 1 6- 3 7
19.Germany 2 6 2 1 3 8- 9 7
20.Iran 2 6 2 1 3 6- 9 7
21.Tunisia 2 6 2 1 3 6- 9 7
22.Denmark 2 7 1 4 2 4- 5 7
23.South Korea 2 7 2 1 4 8-11 7
24.Australia 2 7 2 1 4 6-11 7
25.Poland 2 7 2 1 4 5-10 7
26.Saudi Arabia 2 6 2 0 4 5-12 6
27.United States 1 4 1 2 1 3- 4 5
28.Ecuador 1 3 1 1 1 4- 3 4
29.Cameroon 1 3 1 1 1 4- 4 4
30.Serbia 2 6 1 1 4 7-12 4
31.Costa Rica 2 6 1 1 4 5-16 4
32.Peru 1 3 1 0 2 2- 2 3
33.Nigeria 1 3 1 0 2 3- 4 3
34.Ghana 1 3 1 0 2 5- 7 3
35.Iceland 1 3 0 1 2 2- 5 1
36.Wales 1 3 0 1 2 1- 6 1
37.Egypt 1 3 0 0 3 2- 6 0
38.Canada 1 3 0 0 3 2- 7 0
39.Qatar 1 3 0 0 3 1- 7 0
40.Panama 1 3 0 0 3 2-11 0
totals 64 256 100 56 100 341-341 356 2 2 4 8
Breakdown by confederations 2018-2022
Confederation Part (#C) Pd W D L GF- GA Pts Win RU SF QF
UEFA 27 (16) 122 53 33 36 192-147 192 1 2 3 5
CONMEBOL 9 ( 6) 39 20 8 11 58- 36 68 1 3
CAF 12 ( 8) 42 13 7 22 45- 61 46 1
AFC 9 ( 5) 30 9 4 17 29- 50 31
CONCACAF 7 ( 5) 23 5 4 14 17- 47 19
totals 64 (40) 256 100 56 100 341-341 356 2 2 4 8
NB: #C indicates number of different countries from confederation;
Australia's participations credited to AFC.
Teams ranked on points (based on 2/win), then fewer matches played, then goal difference.
Rk Country Part Pd W D L GF-GA Pts Pt3 APt Win RU SF QF
1.Brazil 22 114 76 19 19 237-108 171 247 203 5 2 4 6
2.(West) Germany [*1] 20 112 68 21 23 232-130 157 225 186 4 4 5 4
3.Italy 18 83 45 21 17 128- 77 111 156 125 4 2 2 1
4.Argentina 18 88 47 17 24 152-101 111 158 134 3 3 5
5.France 16 73 39 14 20 136- 85 92 131 116 2 2 3 2
6.England 16 74 32 22 20 104- 68 86 118 100 1 2 7
7.Spain 16 67 31 17 19 108- 75 79 110 97 1 1 4
8.Netherlands 11 55 30 14 11 96- 52 74 104 96 3 2 2
9.Uruguay 14 59 25 13 21 89- 76 63 88 73 2 3 2
10.Belgium 14 51 21 10 20 69- 74 52 73 66 2 1
11.Sweden 12 51 19 13 19 80- 73 51 70 59 1 3 3
12.Mexico 17 60 17 15 28 62-101 49 66 60 2
13.Portugal 8 35 17 6 12 61- 41 40 57 51 2 1
14.Poland 9 38 17 6 15 49- 50 40 57 44 2 1
15.Soviet Union [*3] [-] 7 31 15 6 10 53- 34 36 51 36 1 3
16.Switzerland 12 41 14 8 19 55- 73 36 50 45 3
17.Yugoslavia [*2] [-] 8 33 14 7 12 55- 42 35 49 35 2 4
18.Croatia 6 30 13 8 9 43- 33 34 47 47 1 2
19.Hungary 9 32 15 3 14 87- 57 33 48 33 2 3
20.Chile 9 33 11 7 15 40- 49 29 40 33 1
21.Austria 7 29 12 4 13 43- 47 28 40 28 2 1
22.Czechoslovakia [*4] [-] 8 30 11 5 14 44- 45 27 38 27 2 2
23.United States 11 37 9 8 20 40- 66 26 35 32 1 1
24.Denmark 6 23 9 6 8 31- 29 24 33 30 1
25.Paraguay 8 27 7 10 10 30- 38 24 31 28 1
26.South Korea 11 38 7 10 21 39- 78 24 31 31 1
27.Romania 7 21 8 5 8 30- 32 21 29 26 1
28.Colombia 6 22 9 3 10 32- 30 21 30 29 1
29.Japan 7 25 7 6 12 25- 33 20 27 27
30.Cameroon 8 26 5 8 13 22- 47 18 23 20 1
31.Costa Rica 6 21 6 5 10 22- 39 17 23 21 1
32.Morocco 6 23 5 7 11 20- 27 17 22 21 1
33.Nigeria 6 21 6 3 12 23- 30 15 21 21
34.Scotland 8 23 4 7 12 25- 41 15 19 15
35.Bulgaria 7 26 3 8 15 22- 53 14 17 17 1
36.Senegal 3 12 5 3 4 16- 17 13 18 18 1
37.Ghana 4 15 5 3 7 18- 23 13 18 18 1
38.Peru 5 18 5 3 10 21- 33 13 18 14 2
39.Ecuador 4 13 5 2 6 14- 14 12 17 17
40.Ireland 3 13 2 8 3 10- 10 12 14 14 1
41.Russia [*3] 4 14 4 4 6 24- 20 12 16 16 1
42.Australia 6 20 4 4 12 17- 37 12 16 16
43.Turkey 2 10 5 1 4 20- 17 11 16 15 1
44.Northern Ireland 3 13 3 5 5 13- 23 11 14 13 1
45.Tunisia 6 18 3 5 10 14- 26 11 14 13
46.Serbia(-Montenegro) [*2] 5 16 4 2 10 16- 29 10 14 14
47.Iran 6 18 3 4 11 13- 31 10 13 13
48.Saudi Arabia 6 19 4 2 13 14- 44 10 14 14
49.Algeria 4 13 3 3 7 13- 19 9 12 10
50.South Africa 3 9 2 4 3 11- 16 8 10 10
51.Norway 3 8 2 3 3 7- 8 7 9 9
52.Ivory Coast 3 9 3 1 5 13- 14 7 10 10
53.East Germany [-] 1 6 2 2 2 5- 5 6 8 6 1
54.Wales 2 8 1 4 3 5- 10 6 7 6 1
55.Greece 3 10 2 2 6 5- 20 6 8 8
56.Ukraine 1 5 2 1 2 5- 7 5 7 7 1
57.Cuba 1 3 1 1 1 5- 12 3 4 3 1
58.Slovakia 1 4 1 1 2 5- 7 3 4 4
59.Slovenia 2 6 1 1 4 5- 10 3 4 4
60.New Zealand 2 6 0 3 3 4- 14 3 3 3
61.North Korea 2 7 1 1 5 6- 21 3 4 3 1
62.Honduras 3 9 0 3 6 3- 14 3 3 3
63.Bosnia-Herzegovina 1 3 1 0 2 4- 4 2 3 3
64.Angola 1 3 0 2 1 1- 2 2 2 2
65.Czech Republic [*4] 1 3 1 0 2 3- 4 2 3 3
66.Israel 1 3 0 2 1 1- 3 2 2 2
67.Jamaica 1 3 1 0 2 3- 9 2 3 3
68.Egypt 3 7 0 2 5 5- 12 2 2 2
69.Iceland 1 3 0 1 2 2- 5 1 1 1
70.Kuwait 1 3 0 1 2 2- 6 1 1 1
71.Trinidad and Tobago 1 3 0 1 2 0- 4 1 1 1
72.Bolivia 3 6 0 1 5 1- 20 1 1 1
73.Dutch East Indies [-] 1 1 0 0 1 0- 6 0 0 0
74.Iraq 1 3 0 0 3 1- 4 0 0 0
75.Togo 1 3 0 0 3 1- 6 0 0 0
76.Qatar 1 3 0 0 3 1- 7 0 0 0
77.China 1 3 0 0 3 0- 9 0 0 0
78.Panama 1 3 0 0 3 2- 11 0 0 0
79.United Arab Emirates 1 3 0 0 3 2- 11 0 0 0
80.Haiti 1 3 0 0 3 2- 14 0 0 0
81.Zaire [!] 1 3 0 0 3 0- 14 0 0 0
82.Canada 2 6 0 0 6 2- 12 0 0 0
83.El Salvador 2 6 0 0 6 1- 22 0 0 0
489 1928 750 750 1928 2678 2312 22 22 44 76
428 2720-2720
NB: Pt3 indicates points total adjusted to 3 points/win;
APt indicates actual points total (2 points/win until 1990; 3 points/win since 1994).
NB: the tournaments of 1930 and 1950 had 13 (instead of 16) participants; that of 1938
had 15 entrants (after the withdrawal of Austria following the Anschluß);
the other tournaments from 1934 to 1978 had 16 entrants; the tournaments from 1982
to 1994 had 24 entrants; the tournaments since 1998 had 32 entrants;
the tournaments of 1930, 1950 and 1982 had no quarter-final stage;
the bottom-2 finishers in the 4-team final group stage 1950 are credited with a
semi-final appearance;
the group runners-up of the quarter-final stage in 1974 and 1978 (which played off for
third place) are credited with a semi-final appearance.
[*1] the German record combines those of Germany (1934-1938, 1994-2022) and West Germany (1954-1990):
West Germany 10 62 36 14 12 131- 77 86 122 86 3 3 2 2
Germany 10 50 32 7 11 101- 53 71 103 100 1 1 3 2
[*2] Yugoslavia's total does not include the 1998 tournament, when Serbia and Montenegro
still used the former federal name; the totals for that tournament are included under
Serbia(-Montenegro); FIFA considers the football federation of Serbia as the rightful
successor of that of Yugoslavia; the combined record of the two entities is:
Yugoslavia/Serbia 13 49 18 9 22 71- 71 45 63 49 2 4
we do not follow that convention here as in particular Croatian players made significant
contributions to the performances of the Yugoslavia national team;
note that the Serbia(-Montenegro) total above combines the records of "Yugoslavia" (1998),
Serbia and Montenegro (2006) and Serbia (since 2010).
[*3] FIFA considers the football federation of Russia as the rightful successor of that
of the Soviet Union; the combined record of the two entities is:
Soviet Union/Russia 11 45 19 10 16 77- 54 48 67 52 1 4
we do not follow that convention here as in particular Ukrainian players made significant
contributions to the performances of the Soviet Union national team.
[*4] FIFA considers the football federation of the Czech Republic as the rightful successor
of that of Czechoslovakia; the combined record of the two entities is:
Czech(oslovak)ia 9 33 12 5 16 47- 49 29 41 30 2 2
we do not follow that convention here as Slovak players made significant contributions
to the performances of the Czechoslovakia national team.
[-] marks countries no longer in existence (Dutch East Indies now known as Indonesia but
the current federation does not recognise the matches from the colonial era).
[!] Zaire is now known as Congo DR (Congo-Kinshasa).
Breakdown by confederations 1930-2022
Confederation Part (#C) Pd W D L GF - GA Pts ( Pt3/ APt) Win RU SF QF
UEFA 258 (36) 1080 468 246 366 1680-1390 1182 (1650/1402) 12 17 33 50
CONMEBOL 89 ( 9) 380 185 75 120 616- 469 445 ( 630/ 532) 10 5 8 17
CAF 49 (13) 162 37 41 84 157- 253 115 ( 152/ 145) 1 3
CONCACAF 46 (11) 154 34 33 87 142- 304 101 ( 135/ 123) 1 5
AFC 43 (13) 139 25 28 86 116- 279 78 ( 103/ 102) 1 1
OFC 4 ( 2) 13 1 5 7 9- 25 7 ( 8/ 8)
totals 489 (84) 1928 750 428 750 2720-2720 1928 (2678/2312) 22 22 44 76
NB: #C indicates number of different countries from confederation;
Israel's participation in 1970 credited to AFC (of which they were members at the time);
Australia's participations in 1974 and 2006 credited to OFC, those since 2010 to AFC
(which is why the number of different countries adds to 84 instead of 83).
Top-12 countries according to points/match ratio NB: based on 2 points/win; countries which played fewer than 10 matches in italics Coupe Jules Rimet 1930-1970 Rk Country Average Part Pd Pts 1.Portugal 1,667 1 6 10 2.Brazil 1,500 9 38 57 3.(West) Germany 1,382 7 34 47 4.Italy 1,308 7 26 34 5.Uruguay 1,231 6 26 32 6.Hungary 1,217 6 23 28 7.Soviet Union 1,211 4 19 23 8.Argentina 1,125 5 16 18 9.Sweden 1,105 5 19 21 Yugoslavia 1,105 5 19 21 11.England 1,083 6 24 26 Austria 1,083 3 12 13 FIFA World Cup 1974-2014 Rk Country Average Part Pd Pts 1.Brazil 1,515 11 66 100 2.(West) Germany 1,458 11 72 105 3.Netherlands 1,375 8 48 66 4.Italy 1,351 11 57 77 5.Argentina 1,311 11 61 80 6.Turkey 1,286 1 7 9 7.Spain 1,273 10 44 56 8.France 1,262 8 42 53 9.Romania 1,231 3 13 16 10.England 1,211 8 38 46 11.Senegal 1,200 1 5 6 12.Poland 1,167 6 30 35 Overall 1930-2014 Rk Country Average Part Pd Pts 1.Brazil 1,510 20 104 157 2.(West) Germany 1,434 18 106 152 3.Italy 1,337 18 83 111 4.Netherlands 1,320 10 50 66 5.Argentina 1,273 16 77 98 6.Senegal 1,200 1 5 6 7.Spain 1,186 14 59 70 8.England 1,161 14 62 72 Soviet Union 1,161 7 31 36 10.Portugal 1,154 6 26 30 11.France 1,153 14 59 68 12.Poland 1,129 7 31 35 Overall 1930-2022 Rk Country Average Part Pd Pts 1.Brazil 1,500 22 114 171 2.(West) Germany 1,402 20 112 157 3.Netherlands 1,345 11 55 74 4.Italy 1,337 18 83 111 5.Argentina 1,261 18 88 111 6.France 1,260 16 73 92 7.Spain 1,179 16 67 79 8.England 1,162 16 74 86 9.Soviet Union 1,161 7 31 36 10.Portugal 1,143 8 35 40 11.Croatia 1,133 6 30 34 12.Senegal 1,083 3 12 13
Thanks to Timothy Honeybone and Roberto Di Maggio for an earlier version of this file and to Luca Santomassimo for pointing out an omission
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
Last updated: 24 Dec 2022
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans and RSSSF 2003/22
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.